This is the end of my own show. Welcome back to Max out everybody. My guest today. I like him a great deal.
He's become a good friend of mine We're gonna know each other even better and better played nine years in the NFL Pro Bowl or first round draft pick And ironically with all those accolades as an athlete. It's not why I wanted him on the show I wanted him on the show because he's a good man. He's articulate and he understands pivoting So many of you at this time are at a stage where maybe the dream you had is on hold or you got to make changes Or it's over and you got to come up with a new one and Eric would more than anybody you were probably ever gonna meet can relate to that And so Eric welcome to the show. It's so good to have you here brother.
It's an honor It's truly a pleasure to be on with you Eric's also got a great podcast that I was just recently a guest on so you can check Out too. He's doing all kinds of TV stuff for the NFL. He's a really unique man guys You're gonna find us out in the interview his ability to articulate his thoughts and and teach you things is remarkable Remember again as we go through this so you're talking about an elite level athlete And a lot of the insights into what made him a good athlete of also made him a good husband father and now businessman So let's start with the pivot first because there are literally millions of people right now rather that as you know Or like I had this dream covid game or circumstances came or a divorce game and I got a pivot you had the ultimate pivot So take everybody through what happened with you. I think everyone's gonna their breath will be taken away by these moments that happen to you in your life So tell him the story.
Yeah, so I got to play I was the first round traffic to the Buffalo Bills played my entire nine year career with the Bills was extended by them contract wise twice Before my ninth season in the NFL. It was my final year on my second deal up there I contemplated whether I wanted to maybe hit free agency or stick around with the Buffalo Bills They had just hired Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean and I truly trusted their vision for the organization I signed a contract extension before my ninth season the 2017 season that season was special ed I'll never win a Super Bowl as a player But when you break a 17 year playoff drought in the fashion that we did down in Miami We watched the Bengals beat the Ravens in the locker room to send us to the playoffs after we had won the game truly one of the most fun Joyful moments of my entire life We go to we go down to Jacksonville We lose to the Jaguars in the first round of the playoffs and I never like to describe this as a win-win situation But my wife was ready to pop with our son Garrett And so I was either going to miss the birth of my son and we were gonna win the playoffs where I was gonna be able to go home and be a Part of that so the season ends I'm the only player on the team that played 100% the snaps that year Which is pretty rare in the NFL because you think you could either be beating a team really bad and get taken out You could be losing really bad get taken out and then just inevitably throughout the season There's a your shoe could come off but generally it's getting hurt You know realistic only player on the team to play 100% of snaps I was an alternate for the Pro Bowl and there was two centers in the playoffs So the chances of me likely going to the Pro Bowl pretty good So I told our team doctor at the end of the season everyone gets an exit physical That's your last step before the offseason and I said look I'm good I'm the only player that played all the snaps send me home I'm gonna get out of here because I'm gonna go catch the birth of my son He said well you had these singers this year just go get an hammer on your neck I said my buddies in high school got stingers like I'm fine. Send me home I've done the Joe Thaisman leg break. I broke my other leg.
I'm on it like football I did ACL PC alladamandeschus. I've been through the ringer. These are stingers. I'm fine I reluctantly get an MRI two days later as I'm waiting in the in the hospital room for the birth of my son 45 minutes before he's born I get the news that my career is over and edit it shocked me That happens to a lot of guys But honestly in that moment I just felt cheated because I felt like I had put in so much work to that point I mean I had so much joy on a day-to-day basis in that facility I was a captain for three years should been five Rex Ryan doesn't do captains He does game captain, so I should have that big gold patch in my jersey and I loved it I loved everything about playing football loves the competitiveness the camaraderie the preparation I loved it all and in that moment I Just I was crushed honestly, but I kept thinking to myself.
Man. God is gonna do something so special with this I'm gonna pivot I'm gonna be I'm gonna be roaring and I don't know how many people are feeling that at this moment of their life where covid Maybe it's taken a loved one or their career their business that they thought so hard to build and maybe you're not quite out of it And I'm three years removed from that ed and I've gotten to build these wonderful relationships I'm in broadcasting now, which I truly love but I think it's a constant state of pivoting as opposed to One day when you just think okay. I've arrived at my next step of my journey. Mm-hmm really good point I mean I want everybody to picture this this is a guy I got one called scholarship offer in plate till it's junior year to get You know get scholarship offer ends up being in the pinnacle of his career signs a brand new deal in the waiting room for the birth of his son The future's perfect gonna have a baby Mary do his dream woman get a renew for a bunch of money It's over and so Eric can relate to it so many of you're going through now You said something there I want to ask you about this you said the one hand you're like hey This is devastating did you really in that same moment in the moment go but God's got some big plan for me?
Or did this sort of occur to you with some perspective down the road or was it were you holding both thoughts at the same time? I wish it happened in that moment. Honestly when my son came 45 minutes later, you're so distracted from the moment and of course like like most players would do we sought a bunch of different opinions from that moment on To so over the next couple of weeks it's this limbo of we're watching the playoffs my family's wondering you know How are we gonna get Garrett down to the Pro Bowl? He's he's gonna be two weeks old But my daughter went when she was six months old and we flew her to Hawaii So we're like of course we can go to Orlando from Louisville, Kentucky with a two-week old You know we'll make we'll make it work and this whole time in my mind I knew that it was it was done I got to see I got to see the x-ray of disc and bone sitting into my spinal cord at C2 C3 And that's loss of respiratory function and paraplegia from the neck down if you had any damage and I had it's sitting into my spinal cord I don't know why or how I wasn't affected more than just the singers and Many doctors got to tell me that you were very lucky Yeah, I'm gonna walk away.
You'll and they said even with surgery you'll never pass a physical again So it's all for nothing right talking about you can keep fighting this No one will ever clear you and I'll give you some perspective that I know what being disabled looks like my little brother was born with severe Stable palsy he never walked talked breathed on his own he died when he was 11 years old I was 14 at the time I've had I have a picture what that looks like So to get that news and be able to picture myself in my own brother shoes and what could have happened or should have happened You're at this crossroads of grateful that it's not worse, but also devastated that you're faced with this Wow now See I did not know that about your brother see everybody I want you to just hear what he said there if you have had a dream and a relationship end or you're just gonna have to pivot We're gonna talk about the steps there it took here in a minute It was me some note taking as well, but you know there is a hidden blessing in it You think there's there's none you don't know what could have been worse had you stayed in those circumstances? I mean, you just you never know there could have been driving to the place you used to work You could have been in a car accident that you're no longer in because you don't drive there anymore You have to have some faith that everything is happening for you and not to you and that that is a true principle of life that God's got your back and we'll talk about faith a little bit But to think brother in all this devastating news that you were one hit one play one anything one slip in the shower Right like one squat wrong in the gym away from being in that situation So there's a ton of blessing in there, but you've managed to make it a blessing And I know you know guys we're recording this right after the playoffs He's watching some of his old teammates in the playoffs right now So this is how mentally tough this guy is but you had to remake your identity I think to like correct me if I'm wrong but a lot of times many of us are Identity is tied to something external So if you've had a marriage end perhaps your part of your identity was being in that relationship or in your case I'm an NFL football player most athletes who lose a career suddenly or not suddenly having an unbelievably difficult time of ever creating a New identity, maybe you were a high school athlete or a really good student or you're just changing and your identity is tied to this other thing You were doing so how did you change that Eric? How did you change that? I never am a football player into maybe the identity is not now what I do but who I am I'm not sure what your answer would be but I'm really curious I think a lot of people would like to know Yeah, so throughout my NFL career I always pride of myself on having a foundation outside of football in a Incredible family mentioned I married the woman of my dreams and you know I have my family my my Extended family that all supports me great friends.
I have my faith. I had some business stuff going I had a foundation where you know, I'm not quite all football I'm more than just a football player But you realize that maybe that's not the case when it's taken away and you find out that next morning when every day for the previous 15 years my goal was to be the best center in the National Football League from the second I walked on the Louisville football campus When you step into your shoes the next morning and it doesn't matter if you go workout It doesn't matter what time you get up Yeah, I want to be a great dad of great husband But what am I trying to be the best in the world? I'm I going to try to chase and when there's not a clear-cut vision for that man It's tough and that's sent me on a journey to figure out what was next for me My podcast is tied with what's next with Eric Wood because I went on a journey to try and meet people like Ed My let in the countless other people to figure out what was next for me And I got some advice early on and that was to quit worrying about myself so much Like you're making this way too much about you get outside yourself and start serving others And it's amazing when my mentality quit quit being about man What am I gonna do next? What am I gonna pivot into?
How do I now be the best broadcaster? How do we take our gym to the next level? How do we how do I lose more weight whatever it may be and just Serving others it was amazing the people that got started to connect me with to start give me more clarity that man life is a journey It's and it's not it's not a sprint either You know I'm three years removed from that It's amazing that me and Ed recorded on my podcast on my son's birthday exactly three years later It's the biggest guest I've had my podcast. He's the biggest guest I've had that most people will have on their podcast He's a most phenomenal speakers in the world.
So it comes on my podcast. That's three years You know what I mean? It wasn't a one month deal. It wasn't one week later I think in my mind when I got that injury I said man God's gonna do something so crazy gave me this platform platform through sports and He's just gonna take me off.
Well, you know my football didn't call I wasn't I wasn't speaking at that next big conference and that's okay because I needed to grow internally as well Brother your gold like your gold and what you are doing by the way Thank you for saying that I certainly won't be the biggest guest long term as for gone sure But I gotta say to you that you know a couple things you say I just want to unpack guys There's so much depth of what Eric just said so I wanted Eric on and you're watching why I wanted a month So here's what really happened He's being humble one of the reasons that Eric made a pivot and that one of the things I'd recommend to you is Eric obviously had some Natural giftedness. This is not a small man. So he was gifted with some physical strength with some mental toughness But probably not the type of physical strength that's the great of the greats had but certainly had some giftedness What he did post his career is he took an inventory? Yeah, those gifts could use those again.
What are some of my other two or three gifts that I know I have clearly when you listen Eric It is his ability to articulate it's his ability to communicate verbally to take thoughts and very rare skill to think something Let's say it the way you think it so when I met Eric, I said to him immediately 15 minutes in our conversation Okay, I get you're calling is to be in broadcast you're calling is to be speaking you're calling is to be in podcasting probably ministering in some small way Eventually at some point to in your own unique way and so for those of you looking to pivot I just want to add to what he's saying take an inventory of your gifts that made you successful previously And are there maybe you use those same gifts as Eric said in the service of others or other couple two or three You haven't dusted off in a long time or never used that might be the pathway to your pivot So I just want to acknowledge what Eric said there and just add my spin to it now There's the other thing you've done really well, and I love how you say this you didn't get to be you know The only scholarship you got was Louisville to go from that to a first round pick to a pro bowler casually, so what's the difference I love how you say this of being committed and not just interested because I think most people are just Interested in their dream interested in changing their life. What's the difference? A commitment is a daily sacrifice, you know a commitment to anything is is daily steps It's not a one-time thing when I when I speak often to teams I talk about when I was a junior in high so I didn't even start on our football team Wow, but there was always coaches around playing on pretty good high school team and We had this practice player of the day jersey in basketball and I was probably a hard worker But I wasn't that part of a worker, you know, I never you wouldn't look around the high school and say Eric What is the hardest worker that we have? Well, I wanted that practice player of the day jersey every single day because when the college coaches came around to recruit people for basketball Or football I had a different color jersey on so throughout that entire basketball season I kept it the entire year after every practice we voted on who got the practice player of the day jersey It wasn't pure points It was a lot of it was effort and I kept it the entire season because I said I can't let someone else have this on if Louisville shows up tomorrow if university since I whoever may be walks in the door Well months and months and months of making myself Push myself to the limit We become accustomed that you become cows to that and then it became uncomfortable for me to not be the hardest worker to the point Where I went to university and I set our strength and conditioning record with Joe Ken big house Joe Ken he Only strength coach ever be national strength coach of the year in the NFL and in college I broke his all-time conditioning record at 300 pounds and you know I could get into my brother never got the walk So how am I ever gonna complain about running and I would take that mindset to it But honestly, I think it was that basketball season where I just started doing great myself and then it became uncomfortable not doing those things And so it started with a commitment to working hard.
I really started to enjoy the preparation that comes with it That translates the business to anything not gonna be late. I'm going to be prepared. I am not gonna show up Not ready to roll and it's just you do enough of those things and you stack enough habits that become autopilot Everyone warns you don't leave your life on autopilot one of the best pieces of advice I ever got was don't get somewhere 15 years down the road on autopilot in which you hadn't got there But if you can make enough habits autopilot in your life, then you can start stacking those things and it's amazing what happens five years later I registered my first year of Louisville So I spent five four and a half years there and then you end up a first round draft pick and then you get to the Buffalo Bills and just received some incredible advice when I got there someone said Watch the undrafted free agent work and he better never outwork you if you want to be the best you outwork every undrafted free agent and you put that First round draft pick title beside you and it was just habit stacking over and over taking advice that people gave me And it's amazing with conscious effort what can come from that speaking of the so good brother I'm eating this though as I knew it was good as good. So I knew we would be speaking of advice I just have an inclination about you just with your humility you have that thing I talk about where you really nuance confidence and humility together I don't think enough people want to be coached hard and I sensing you Yeah, you know being a former athlete myself not anywhere near the level you were I kind of know when I'm around someone who wants to be coached hard and I was surprised at the higher levels I got it some guys even the highest levels don't want to be coached hard in business and personal development So many people say I want to mentor but they don't want to be coached real hard They don't want to be accountable.
They want to choose the way they're spoken to you know It's used the way you're talked to so speak about that when I write Did you like hard coaching and how critical is that if you're gonna get somewhere? I love feedback like you didn't do this right? I'm like, thank you I want to know anymore than if I was dropping my elbow when I was hitting I wonder if I'm making a mistake in business so speak about that because I think that's a subtle separator nobody talks about Yeah, I honestly take that being coachable aspect to every part of my life I like to play golf now. I refuse to just go practice bad habits I take a weekly golf lesson to make sure that I'm not practicing the bad things over and over I take it to my house I have my wife every week give me a grade as a husband and dad I got some phenomena advice from someone every week reach out your wife As for the shoot you a text and you can't respond with anything besides thanks, baby I love you so pour into me I want to hear what I'm doing wrong because I want to take my same approach in my marriage But in football it was always natural you go to the you on the practice field everything's on video You analyze it after practice you get in the meeting rooms every rep step hand placement is judged That's what I was used to and I saw results because of that one of the hardest things for me transitioning into podcasting Broadcasting speaking is the lack of feedback and I've almost had to I feel like I'm bugging people at times because people aren't used to it But there's a lot of people that don't like that feedback so I think over time They stopped giving it as much and so I've reached out I've had to pay people to look at my podcast everyone I'm doing wrong and in its little things that it's hey quit asking people two questions because when you ask them two questions at once they either Only answer the first one halfway because they're still thinking about the other one or you make a fool of them because they have to ask you again I never knew that and so I think coaching being coachable in life in all aspects of your life is just beyond important It's it is and it's one of the things no one talks about so I'm gonna tell you most people take hard coaching personally First their self-esteem and you can't be that way and you can't choose the way you're spoken to you can't choose the methodology You know the way you're receiving it This is such a huge thing because I've seen that you've asked me for advice already We just were getting to know each other so go ahead you wanted to jump in there jump in I talk a lot about how the timing of my Corrending was I think a god thing six months prior to my career ending a teammate of mine in Buffalo was forced to work with a Therapist or a life coach and I hope too many people don't try and read between the lines there I was his accountability partner so I asked this account of this coach that he had I said okay Well, I was working with you where would you start?
He said will you talk about your daughter grace a lot she's two years old 15 years from now Pretend like she's introducing you to her high school class. How did she describe you? Well, give me a few minutes. He said well just paint a couple scenarios.
She could say this is my dad air He is my best friend. He's come to every recital game. I've ever had he was a great football player But he's he's so special to me or she could say this is my dad. He was a football player He took that success into the business world.
He's a tycoon in the business world. He's built all these businesses You'll learn so much from him. Those are two great things Just don't show up one by accident and I said oh man. All right, when do we start?
So I actually started professional executive coaching six months prior to my career ending and I talked about being coach Well everywhere in your life. I didn't know to write out core values I didn't learn to write out a morning routine to live by I wasn't meditating I got taken to a different level and I basically had a six months preparation to transfer into the real world the Non-sports world because as an athlete to pull back the covers on the locker room. Yeah, it's a ton of fun It's it's like it's you laugh harder on a day-to-day basis in there one day. It's country music.
It's rap music It's fighting over the stereo. It's jokes. It's games. It's filling a guy's car up with Packing beads like it's fun But you don't always progress socially like maybe your buddies that had to transition into working right away because you're still playing a kid's game Very good point by the way I was one of my questions in the future in the interview was taking us into that locker room and for me, you know I'm just games.
I don't miss practicing I do miss the locker room. I miss the time with the dudes It's why I like golf cuz I just get a little mini slice of that for three or four hours But you know what you said there, you know, I mean I there's so much in what you're saying But I think one of the things that you you talk about when being coached to is that I want you guys a picture of the humility that's required You're an NFL football player What's the thing about this a starting NFL football player at dadgump good one? You're gonna probably make another pro ball think about the humility says will you coach me because I find the higher people climb the more Their limitations by I think I know this people are surprised often people that work with me or even for me in some cases I'll ask for their feedback. They're like you want feedback from him like yes, you see things with a set of eyes I don't you don't only learn from people who are further down the road than you oftentimes you can learn a whole lot from about Everybody if you're willing to receive it.
So I love that you sought that out and grab a hold of it now That's about the locker room a little bit, but I'm really curious about this You've been really good post your career at connecting with people obviously it didn't hurt that you were an NFL football player But I didn't connect with you because you played football right connected with you because you regularly communicated with me I saw value in you But if I'm listening to look one of the keys to getting next I do need to get coached and I do need some mentors How do I learn to connect better with people so that they will pay attention to me and help me? What would your counsel be? Serve them figure out a way to Elevate them whether that's their business then personally if you want to connect with someone me and Ed's first interaction was he He posted a podcast with Phil Mickelson I'm a big golf fan and I just put it on my Instagram story and said this is an unbelievable interview Ed said thank you, and I said no worries big fan of the show a month later. I asked Ed I said hey, I started this podcast.
I don't think we're doing it right I don't know can you connect me with someone from your team and Ed said I'll do it myself and actually send me back an audio message I didn't you know, I don't know if he's running his own social media All I did was post Ed's deal, but there was it wasn't a how can I get on edge show that was two years ago? You know so so it's amazing just by serving people by trying to Elevate them to just speak to them to teach them something what can come back to you in the end so true And I think people think they underestimate it's like well everybody does that with you you'd be surprised There's a lot of reciprocity in life and the more that you do seek to serve first you'd be surprised no matter who it is People have asked me you know some of the people that I coach, you know How did you end up meeting them might not have been them but there's someone else they're connected to that? I did serve who then they then refer me to somebody and so that is one of the absolute legitimate ways that you can distinguish yourself And Eric still does it you know, there's just little things, you know And I do it as well you send a gift here there. That's just like special and unique or guys a handwritten note to somebody You just be surprised by what that does you talk about routines.
I'm curious about yours now It's probably a little bit different than when you played but what does a routine look like for you? Do you have a morning or an evening routine and if you do what does that look like at your level? Yeah, I actually have both and evening routine is something I've just started implementing because I found that there was a blind spot there in my evenings When I was playing I was 310 pounds. I'm around 250 now depending if I'm taking creatine I'm up five pounds if I'm lifting if I'm golf or more I'm right around 250 pounds So my days look a whole lot different every day when I was playing started with some type of high-calorie shake and end with one Well, I got done I had to switch those habits up because I was just going to the cabinet So I generally implement some intermittent fasting in my life Which is basically just a guardrail of stay out of the pantry during these times But when I wake up in the morning, I have I go straight brush my teeth I do my memory verse try to do a Bible verse or a quote once a week and I talk about habit stacking I'm already gonna be brushing my teeth.
Well, what can I do on top of that to enhance my life? I the Bible says your words are the overflow of your heart whenever you're pouring in yourself is gonna flow out of your mouth There's times I hear myself on a podcast and I'm like where those words even come from. It's you know, it's it's podcast It's books. It's reading Bible.
So then I head I head into my pantry I take my morning supplements and then in a shaker bottle. I put apple cider vinegar cinnamon Kyan pepper turmeric creatine and pink and leasalt chug that down and for me I had a brain doctor tell me that all those spices are good for you I just knock them all out first thing in the morning and I head into my office for a little bit of quiet time that looks different some days from others But generally it's a devotional. It's a gratitude journal. It's a Some light reading whatever I'm doing if I got a lot of my mind It might be ten minutes of meditation just to clear my mind and then get going on the day I love physical activity in the morning and I think this comes from playing but I never truly feel like I'm woken up Until I get the blood flow going and so we own a gym in Louisville So a lot of times I'll head over there if it's a busy season of life It's it's heading down to begging some weights or hitting a cycle class on my bike down here But it's getting moving in the morning and then I mentioned the evening routine for me I was waking up and I'll call blind now thinking about it But not planning out my next morning the night before and taking an account of what happened that day and truly Appreciating what what happened that day because otherwise, you know, there's two types of autopilot to talk about good and bad Get on that autopilot You don't truly appreciate some of the victories celebrate victories throughout your life where maybe you remember the next morning when you're in your Gratitude journal, but maybe you don't remember that one conversation that that Funny moment with your son or daughter think about those things that knife fuel yourself in that evening routine as honestly I feel I kept me just from some inner peace by the way You hit the area that I'm working on so I have a morning and eating routine over my book I talk about it a lot But if I'm really being honest everybody this will everyone will agree with us Eric's nailed something here most of us in this day And age you come up with a morning routine because you're awake It's the beginning of your day.
You're like I got to do this stuff right the evening. We're all weaker. We're tired There's more distractions typically television is involved in our life and you know Lovey-w We're gonna separate this year. What's something I have an evening routine, but it ain't that great I need to be more wired in the evening little thing.
I'm doing everybody seems silly I'm laying my clothes out now every single night for the next day You think why do I just one less thing to think about? It's just one less thing. I've done to prepare It's autopilot when I walk in and for me that's usually my workout closest That's the first thing I'm gonna do but they're just laid out there my socks my stuff's all there and it just tells me Hey, man, I'm ahead of the curve here So it seems small, but it's one of those things that I've added to mine as well You talked a lot about devotionals and faith and I know enough lately from being around you that it's a center part of your life But how important is faith in your life? And what would you say to somebody?
You know, maybe looking for more faith in their life right now Faith has not always been an important part of my life a lot of times it takes being broken down to come to the point where you need a Relationship with Christ or you need faith whatever religion that may be but for me. It's a non-denominational Christian I've done enough digging I basically determined in my life that I believe Jesus rose from the dead There's a whole lot of apologetics books that if you can read those and not think that this dude Jesus wasn't a real person that showed back up and if you can believe that then you can believe the rest of everything that goes on and for Me that's been the foundation of my life and honestly the way I was turned on to Christianity was when I got out of college And I started being around these athletes that I wanted us higher to be like the ones in the bills locker room They were all Christians and the guys that I was meeting around the country They generally had a pretty strong faith the best as the best husband's I'm not saying that you there aren't men of faith That I don't know that are true rock stars in their life I don't you know, I'm not saying that but the ones I was around were and I was looking at these common denominators and all their lives So I said man, what is this about this this Jesus guy? What is this and just over time? I just started seeing it show up in my life man I was like temper started to diminish especially at home being able to turn off that switch leaving the football field coming home And just little by little it's just been amazing Just the piece that has come from my relationship with with Jesus Christ in my life beautiful for me same thing a little bit of Calming of my temper, you know, I think everybody's kind of got this edge to them that's successful And that's one thing I wanted to touch on so you guys are listening Eric He's obviously this incredible man seems like a gentle man too doesn't he right like a kind to man yet?
He dispensed violence for a living on Sundays, right? And so I want to ask you about that kind of duality and here's why I ask everybody This is where the podcast gets so good. I think you're a complex person everyone even though you may think you're simple And sometimes there's two sides to your personality and oftentimes the one that maybe you don't like all the time You used to discredit the good you and you think well because I'm you know Maybe I've lied before or because I have this lazy side to my personality that just qualifies me from my deep vision No, you're just complex. You got both sides Eric's a pretty good example of this There's this really gentle kind man But your job was to basically punish people for a living as an offensive lineman in the league So did you ever reconcile that or thought about that explored that in yourself that both sides of the coin with you?
Yeah, I mean that's one thing with NFL players that you're going to you're playing a violent game for a living and that's okay That you're playing a game. There's rules. You're playing within the rules It's okay to be violent You're using the gifts that God gave you to go support your family to try and create generational wealth to make an impact on society There's violence involved with that I heard your podcast recently with the woman in the MMA and she's talked about how she wasn't great until she came to grips with It's okay to punish that other person. I thought that was that was gold when she said that but yes It it's all about doing within the confines of the game I had a press conference when I first got the Buffalo I cringe thinking back at it now But they said what do you like about football so much?
I said you get to do stuff on a football field that you get arrested for in public And I kind of met and I grew up I was a little bit of a fighter even on the football field I We used to joke that I would set the record for most fights in practice I would always say this because I was just said it's a laziness thing from other people They're mad at me because I'm going hard and I say that from a from a sense of humility now But I would say that at the time like I'm going hard enough that it ticked them off that enough that they wanted to fight me But it's amazing we could think about all the times in NFL practice So picture this that I played on one playoff team in nine years So towards the end of the season you're always picking up guys guys are getting cut well your beat up come week 15 well now you got this practice while defensive lineman coming in he's trying to get elevated and you're coming off of your 14th game in a row beat up well, inevitably there's gonna be some fights in there like calm down dude Nope trying to make the team but it's about turning that off and in where if you look at the stats actually NFL players Have less issues in society with arrests with domestic violence than the average person But you got to realize that as an athlete you have this opportunity to make an impact because you play a game for a living You need to take that very very seriously and be very cognizant of the fact that you got to turn that off But I mean I pride myself. I'm being physical finishing people to the ground. That was my style That's how I led. That's how I tried to lead from the front watch me I'm going to go put myself on the line, but then I also took pride in hey I'm gonna be at couples, but I'm gonna be gentle with my wife Yeah turning it off is huge and I had to learn to do that and I want to listen to this things that make you successful in an area It's okay that you're that way like I've considered myself kind of an intense but kicking dude in my business life That's part of my persona, right?
That doesn't work when I come home with my daughter, right? And so I learned to turn it off that doesn't mean I don't want that part of my personality So a lot of you I mean I spent a long time not turning it off by the way So I know it's like not to right. I'm an impatient person in business. I want things done now.
Let's go quick move it Let's make it happen right when I'm at home. That doesn't fly and so all of you evaluate that about yourself What's working and work may not work in family? They're not all the same things But that doesn't mean you don't want to lose your intensity in your business life. Just learn to turn it off And that's a very big piece of advice.
So let's talk about the best because I'm loving this real little longer Some of the best so you and I are talking off camera people are accusing me lately about this Brady fetish You know I am from Boston originally and Tommy's family is a member of a club I belong to I'm a fan Right, I know I say a fan means I know him. I just respect him right. I respect what he's done What's the difference with let's just use him as example your thoughts on him number one whenever this comes out Man's going to his tenth Super Bowl 14 conference championships you guys He's not a he's not a Hall of Fame career 60 was 35 years old right He's been a four to five last Super Bowls for God's sakes like it's just unbelievable But you played against him and I think you built a relationship with him that we've talked about as well like what's what separates him from The really good ones honestly, it's his discipline You're talking about a guy that struggled to be a starter at the University of Michigan was a six-round draft pick And there's been a lot made of that And he's gotten to the point where he's at in his career But it's disciplined Tom Brady is never satisfied and I would argue I don't want to pretend like I know every olympian That's ever competed sure but in the sports that I'm familiar with in the athletes I would argue that he has disciplined himself. He has sacrificed more time energy Effort into being the best in the NFL than anyone I've ever seen or heard of I mean this guy structures his entire years Around peaking for the Super Bowl.
So in the years that he gets eliminated from the playoffs He continues to work out through the Super Bowl so that his body is peaking each year at that exact same time He'll eliminate it a lot of the social things he'd like to do He's a different person when I run into him at the Kentucky Derby now Then he was 10 years ago. He has made continual sacrifice in his life to be the best of best I should hate Tom Brady played against him 18 times. We beat him when he was suspended for deflage We beat the Patriots suspended for deflage gate We beat him when they rested their starters in week 17 in the second half and then one time in 2011 We beat him straight up at home. We went three and oh that sent them to one and two to start the season So truly we beat him one time.
I should hate this guy But but he's talking about you, you know, do you get accused of this Brady fetish? I mean I have the same man crush because to me I have so much respect for him He's also a very cordial respectful elevating type of person But I've talked to guys that play with him. He wanted to know some of the stuff he does So Tom So Rodney Harrison talked about one time how he got to the facility in New England He leaves the calls he goes to the Patriots and he gets there like 615 in the morning And Tom said you sleep in today and Rodney Harrison said no He said so then the next day I got there at 6 ready the same thing. He said look Tom I'm not getting here any earlier than 6 a.m I don't care But Tom Brady's got that Jordan deal that ugs deal He's in the locker room first five people in the door take him because he knows he's gonna be the first So the next five so he rewards people for working hard as well And to me, Tom's the goat He is the absolute man He's the end all be all when it comes all this and it's just not surprising me one bit to see him have that success That he has down in Tampa And this doesn't necessarily even need to be a separate like Brady Belichick because the roster that New England rolled out there this year Was was not very good and anywhere Tom Brady goes He's going to attract town.
We could talk about you know the law of attraction and positive people Well, ballers like Tom Brady attract other ballers because people know that Tom Brady's gonna win You're so right and by the way, there's not one personality type that's a goat because you know I get the feeling I've been around MJ a couple times. MJ's got some swagger and he's a cool dude, right? LeBron James seems like a cool dude. Tommy's a little nerdy You know what I mean?
Like he's you're with me like he's kind of like a hoshed jugs goofer You know like I don't mean that in a demeaning way, but different personality types can be the greatest ever Do you agree with that by the way with him a little bit? Absolutely And you want to talk about a guy that can turn it off and on Listen to him in his post game 20 minutes after he's cussing out dudes on the sideline I mean, that's a guy that's got a great balance in his life of being able to compete in a playoff game against Drew Brees And then 30 minutes later go out there and throw the football with breezes kids because he has that much respect for him This is a guy who knowing Tom's mentality all week was hitting himself up against Drew Brees There's no way that Drew Brees ruins my legacy This and that and then he's got the respect for that man to go throw the football with his kids knowing that's likely breezes last game Couple more things. This is so good brother competing So, you know, I'm I think one of the things you loved to do I love to do is to compete that's easy when you're playing a sport This is a subtle thing that makes people great So everyone listen to this if you're a mother listening to this you can still compete You know I'm saying you can compete to be the best version of you if you're a stay-at-home dad You can compete if you're a business person if you're in the gym I believe a separator is people that want to compete whether that's against another person or against their personal best or against as good as they could be But you left something ultra mega competitive everything you did was being evaluated, right? You're getting great at every week.
You're playing in actual games and practice everything's filmed It's over and now you got this vision. You're pivoting you're doing what you're doing But if you found a way to get that competitive thing again I don't know if the same level is playing professional sports But is that also an element for you that? You know if you strip that from somebody that I don't know that they're best and that's not talked about a lot So what about that with you? Definitely.
I mean, I've always been a competitor. I don't care if we're playing cards ping pong golf football I'm competitive. I'm not a great loser and that's fine I hate losing maybe even more than I love winning on that type of guy where I think that everybody needs to compete in their lives right now I get so careful when I tell people that because everyone's holding a comparison machine in their hand right now I'm not asking you to go compete against I'm not telling my wife to go compete against Joanna Gaines on fixer upper And you know this this idealized self that you're seeing from people and I got to be really careful without myself Because I can play I'm so competitive I can play that comparison game Hey, my podcast not is not where he is. I'm not in the money.
I football booth I can play that game and not just accept that man. I have a lot of great things going in my life too And now it's about making daily steps. It's about daily progress. It's this growth mindset People talk about why the bills are so good now.
Sean McDermott preaches growth mindset at all times And I'm so glad I got to play for him for a year and continue to be a friend of his But it's that growth mindset every day where you're competing against yourself where daily progress and I talked about Part of my evening routine is is celebrating little victories during the day because I was never doing that You know, I'd get this phenomenal news during the day But it was on to the next thing and then if you pick up your phone on Instagram You're like man that me and this dude retired at the same time. He's lost more weight than he's doing this business wise And so for me, it's this intentional daily Not struggle, but intentionality around just making sure I'm competing against myself and and and celebrate my own victories So good. So the lack of competing is holding many of you back. You're gonna find a place to compete I'm telling you however that fine line where it turns into comparison is a killer And that guy did a whole podcast on just myself just those of you that are listening if you haven't heard it You should go listen to it, but I completely totally agree with that I'm just curious man if you're being completely transparent the last three years if you gone through any depression I know you got your act together.
You're doing TV You know you're growing you got your podcast you got a great family But are there if you just share because I I wonder if there's just days or weeks or hours where you're like now man I'm just it's all sounds good, but I'm not I'm not I'm not snapping a ball anymore And I fell and I don't you know does that happen or you just does not in your personality Yeah, and I call it who gives a crap mode, you know, you're getting this routine daily of you know I can I can try and get a big podcast guests I can go watch more films I get a better broadcast deal, but who gives a crap? You know like what's like there's no one measuring this, you know, there's metrics But yeah, it just doesn't really matter it and I say this extremely humbly the game of football blessed me with a financial circumstance Where our lifestyle doesn't change that much? We didn't spend a ton of money while I was playing to where we maintain up, you know We live in Louisville, Kentucky We can maintain this lifestyle whether I go out and compete super hard in business or not So you get in this who gives a crap mode and I have to snap out of that and just remind myself that and God has given me gifts to serve Others to encourage others and to pour in my family and lead my family first and what am I doing? What's I'm I'm modeling to a boy every day?
I need to model to my daughter the man I want her to marry and then I can quickly snap myself out of it But you know, especially through this COVID time I think so many people are waking up to man that vision I had isn't quite as clear anymore And I would encourage people all the time When my career ended the thing I hated the most was when someone would say well, what are you doing now? I'd say I'm just kind of figuring out and I could list a bunch of things I'm on three foundation boards including my own foundation and Buffalo I'm doing this I'm doing that but I just say I'm just figuring out and they say you know, you're too young to retire I said I'm not retired. I'm not retired. I'm 32.
I'm pivoting. I'm figuring out what's next, but I'm not retired And so, you know, I would encourage those out there during this time that maybe struggle with what I call that who gives a crap mode And for me, it's less depression more anxiety just because I think deep down I'm always striving to kind of beat that yesterday version myself that I can put a little bit of pressure on myself as well I'm rarely down in the dumps, but there's times where I don't sit down in a day and my wife will have to be like dude You got chill out, bro. Like calm down I'm a hundred percent with you on the who gives a crap and on the anxiety over depression I'm more of a worrier anxiety guy than I am a depression guy But so many of you have this who gives a crap mode and it's different It's not the same as maybe Eric's or myself where you're like it doesn't matter. I'm already wealthy It could be the reverse where you're like even if I got this done I'm still broke even I got this done.
I'm still out of work Even if I go to the gym I still got to come back and face this set of problems who gives a crap and you can't do that It does matter everything matters everything stacks everything compounds little things you're doing can create momentum That could be the catalyst you meeting that person you're one decision one thought one meeting one encounter one moment away from changing your life Unless you don't give a crap. You don't give a crap. You're not gonna see those moments So I'd love today, but I got one more question for you first off everybody go follow Eric on social What are you what's your Instagram? That's the best place to go get your show everything there?
What is it? Yep at you would 70 the podcast called what's next with Eric wood and then I got a website It's ericwood media calm and everything's kind of combined there and by the way He said far more prominent guess than me was being nice early said some top athletes on there fascinating people and he's a great interviewer Like he's just a great interview because he is interested. He does care. All right last thing We've been the show's been about pivoting.
You made the ultimate pivot So I'm listening today. I've listened to the show. I've learned a ton I've written notes and here I am I'm sitting here and maybe I'm starting to get an idea of what my gifts are how I'm gonna apply them What would your advice just be to me man? If I could get 15 minutes with you I want to make my dreams come true I want my daughter in 15 years or whoever it is my mom and dad my future children to say the things I want them to say about me And I just got to get a little bit of a nudge here What advice would you say to me if I'm maybe coming today?
Maybe a little bit hurtin maybe a little bit lost What would you counsel me on man? We've all been giving gifts no matter what we've all been giving gifts analyze in your life What your gifts are and if you don't know what they are ask someone who cares about you because they'll be quick to tell you because other people See it in you and use those gifts to start serving others to make an impact And when you start to make an impact if your goals are to make more money more money will start coming to you will be rewarded for using your gifts to impact Others but honestly get outside yourself start serving in a way And I'm not necessarily saying drive downtown and start serving the homeless start serving your wife start serving your mom and dad try and impact people spread as much joy as you can in your life and watch the Positivity fill up your life and watch the positive people that God the universe whatever you believe watch them start to come into your life And through this extremely tough time and and me and that have talked about this we come to this with a point of no judgment There's so many people at different circumstances right now because of COVID But I think there's one commonality in all of us that if we get outside of others we start outside of ourselves and start serving others We're gonna make an impact and you'll be rewarded for that impact in your life financially through business in your relationships brother Eric Would everybody so good this is so good today and listen everyone Listen the fact that you listen to this or watch this today You're in the 1% of the 1% that you just try and you're feeding yourself you're growing you're after you're engaged right you're intentional Give yourself some credit for that. I told you Eric would be awesome You guys I don't just bring athletes on the show They got to be special to be on this show to share with you and you saw what special is all about today with Eric would So thank you brother so much for being here today. No, thank you Thank you for the impact that your show our relationship has had on my life for all those out there keep digging in on Ed stuff It will show up in your life when you fill yourself with the positivity that Ed brings it's gonna start showing up in your life in your words And I just can't thank you enough for this opportunity brother my honor man share the show everyone share this with people You believe in care about and you want to help grow God bless you max out